March 21, 2012

The New Girl (Who's That Girl? It's Starr!)

Oh, STARR! Doesn't your heart just break for her? Not only has she experienced some of the most heartbreaking tragedy one person could face, but she is also DOOMED to a life filled with NEVER ENDING DISAPPOINTMENT because in the midst of her monologuing today, she made a dramatic pronouncement that can only end in more heartbreak:

Starr: I am going to make sure that Sonny Corinthos pays for what he did to us...I promise.

Starr, after reading a "Just checking in" text from Michael: I'll be okay once I make sure your father has paid for what he has done.

Don't you want to hug her? Just give her a big old bear hug and break it to her gently that you know she's new in town and also crazy with grief, but that it's important to know that Sonny has spent the past decade and a half paying for nothing, ever? Because girl is going to collapse with guilt when she realizes she can never follow through on this promise because Sonny will always smug his way out of a tight situation.

And so ends my discussion of the only part of General Hospital I feel emotionally equipped to discuss today, because Noah and Patrick continued to break me and I can hardly see my computer monitor through my tears.

Starr Manning monologues...felt like eternities. Luke Spencer buying the name of Jake's and renaming it The Flying Rib? All to assuage his guilt for murdering Jake Spencer. Luke and Starr are the worst characters in all of the soaps. The combination...ugh.

I hate hate HATE that I am still such a sucker for Jason/Liz scenes. I can't help it. They make me cry and feel and yearn and actually not hate Jason quite so much. The final scene was just heartbreaking and so touching.

I loved the nod to history with renaming Jake's to The Floating Rib.

Anna was so raw and I'm glad she came 'round to how awful she treated Patrick.

I don't want to actor bash, but suffice to say that Starr is not one of my favorite characters. Nor is KS one of my favorite actors.
I know she had a following among the younger demographic that the network finds so necessary, so I understand the logic of appealing to that age group. OLTL was a consistent winner in that age category, and supposedly she was a major reason for it. However.....to put it mildly, she was never someone who - IMO - had the chops to pull off dramatic scenes. She is better in underplayed scenes with adults. It's hard for me to understand her being on contract when the incredible Finola Hughes is not.
I know a lot of people, me included, didn't like her going off on Patrick. Even so, Finola Hughes acts with such utter finesse that whether I like what her character does or not, I am transfixed by her performance. And, the emotional honesty that comes through illuminates the reasons, and the feelings, with such clarity. Even her scenes with Luke today were things of beauty - because of her, not Luke.

Everything, today, worked, either well or superbly, except for Starr. I miss OLTL like crazy, and as strange as it feels, I'm enjoying McBain. And I love Blair and Todd. And this new viewer thinks they could work. But I don't see Starr doing anything but detracting from GH the same way she did for me on OLTL.

I can't stand Jason and I'm not a Liz fan, but they just broke me today. On top of Patrick and Noah together. And even Starr, a little bit. But she is definitely better in small doses. Maybe CD can calm her down a bit when they finally hook her and Michael up together.

I like Starr. Unfortunately, she does not do well in the teenage love stuff..lol

I liked the Starr that saved the "Man on the Wheel" and put piranhas in Max's bath water..Hahahahahaha

On a serious note, Eddie is the stronger actor of the two siblings. Once they turned Starr into an ingenue, the character lost all of her edge as that brat of Blair and Todd Manning! Which means Sonny had better watch his back, since he and Starr are the same height!

I, too, liked the scenes between Jason and Liz. You can tell IMO that Becky and Steve know how to give and take with each other in a scene, and really push each other. The scenes were excellent and should have played out last year.

I don't know, I kind of liked that Luke wanted to call the bar The Floating Rib. At least he's finally giving a positive nod to GH's past! TFR used to be THE restaurant in town...Susan Moore - St. Jason's biological mom - was the hostess, which is how Alan knew her....I can still remember when he asked Susan to be his mistress.

I love the nod to GH's history with the renaming of Jake's. These people are trying.

I didn't watch OLTL, don't know Starr at all, so was pretty much baffled as to why she was endlessly shrieking on my tv.

VERY relieved that Anna's rage at Patrick was short lived, and not the beginning of some ridiculous custody battle story, which you know would have been the case with Guza.

I cannot wait (CANNOT WAIT) to see Patrick confront Jason. This is one of the few cases where Jason feels actual remorse about being involved in a death (yeah, I know not technically his fault, but what about the people he actually has murdered?) and I want Patrick to jump up and down on him. With both feet. Get 'em.

I agree - KA is a disaster. She simply cannot pull off the pretty ingenue because she's, well, odd looking. Long-time OLTL watchers loved her because she was a quirky, interesting legacy character. But in a world of beautiful young actresses, she simply does not make the grade. Anyone seeing and hearing her for the first time would simply scratch their heads.

I'll watch every day if they are moving toward Liason. Jason/Steve is never more present than he is in his scenes with Becky. His face has a softness and a sweetness that isn't there with Sam.

About yesterday, eppy...first off...get that damn child off my screen. Starr Manning scenes were so jarring it was ridiculous. All that screeching and wailing, it threw off the flow of the show for me. You take out her scenes and it was a very good episode. Now to the good stuff.

When it came to Elizabeth and Jason scenes,the pollen count somehow went up and 'allergies' seem to affect eyes. For me it was beautifully done and I give props to RC for finally giving me a true scene of Jake's parents mourning his passing. Although, yes, I am one of those people that think either Franco, Helena, or even the man that was on the phone with Sasha got him and he's somewhere waiting for his mom to bring him home. Say what you want about Guza, whether intentionally or not, he left some huge holes in that storyline where a writer can bring this child back. But anywhoo, I love how Jason and Elizabeth can have one conversation that covers two or three topics in one sitting and it doesn't seem rushed whereas other couples can go for 2 weeks on one topic without a resolution. I'm seeing it less under RC's writing, and for that I'm grateful.

Luke and Anna. Ehh. I know people are all "what a great nod to history naming Jake's The Floating Rib" and I'm like ehh because if Luke was doing it for a non-selfish reason, I might be alright with it. But he's not. He's doing it because the name of the bar reminds him of a four year old that he 'killed' and he doesn't want to be reminded. How does he know that seeing the name Jake's when she drives by the bar or comes to the bar doesn't bring a smile to Elizabeth's face? But then I have to remember, this is Luke Spencer and when has he given a crap about anyone's feelings over his. Which brings me to Anna which made me go ugh to her? The woman that ranted and raved to Patty about how he wasn't a good husband and a good father and how he should always feel guilty for cheating on Robin and how his family is too good for him is now 'egging' on Luke in this name change venture knowing why he wants to change the name. And for me that was a ....REALLY? You kill a kid and want one less reminder of you killig a kid, Anna helps you change a name, but you cheat on your wife, and even though your wife forgave you, you have to listen to her yell about how you're basically the devil incarnate.

The John and Sam scenes. Basically what I got from that is, it's a huge possibility that John does know Sam from the past but he's schooled his features and is pretending he doesn't because he's obviously done his research on all the people involved in Sonny's life before he returned back to Port Chuck because Sam just mentioned her husband's name was Jason and he confirmed he knew she was married to Jason Morgan which unlike Leopold, Jason is a fairly common name. I know I read from other boards, that people see chem between Sam and John, but I really don't see it, but hey, different strokes for different folks.

As for the Kate/Connie thing, I really wish they would leave Johnny out of it, simply because if they go this way with Connie being the one that shot at Dante, hitting Sonny instead and shooting out AZ's tire, don't quite understand why we're going toward using sex with Johnny as a way to get rid fo Sonny now. I like violent Connie, she's good time.

But I get it. It's to give Johnny something to do and I'm guessing to cause problems between Carly and Johnny which is another couple that makes no sense to me and really comes off forced. Sorry, but Johnny just isn't Carly's type. The last three men Carly was with wore suits, shut down restaurants so they could have dinner without anyone around to wine and dine her, and now she's rolling around with a guy who has potato chip bags on the couch. It really makes no sense to me why or how Carly is attracted to Johnny.

Anna had an angry reaction to news that her daughter's husband had been unfaithful to her. Her reaction was pretty normal to me. She then calmed down and said she needed to apologize and let Patrick know that he is her family and she loves him. Pretty real.

Given the controversy over Lexi Ainsworth being fired for being petite, I have to wonder why RC hasn't reach out to bring her back to the canvas, especially since Starr is the only young woman currently on GH. I think the show will suffer the same problem of Starr being in a 'bubble' that Kristina faced during Lexi's time on the show.

I also think Kristina and Starr could bond over their grief for their lost loved ones (with the death of Robin for Kristina, and Cole and Hope for Starr).

Yes, Carly lives on frozen pizza and potato chips but what does that have to do with Johnny. My focus is on the men she dated/married. Sonny, Jax, Alcazar. Men who wore suits, who rode in limos, who catered to her, who flaunted their power. Who kept the empty potato chip bags off the couch and kept their houses clean. I don't care how Johnny looks. I myself don't find him such a big deal and I'm sure not fascinated with the character but that's besides the point. My point is who Carly usually gravitates to and Johnny isn't it and to me that comes off really forced.

@kermitklein, I agree with you about Carly and who she would gravitate to. The exception to that would be Jason. If Jason told Carly he wanted to be with her, she would be on the back of that motorcycle in less than a heartbeat. Suits and limos be damned.

Anna's reaction didn't seem normal at all to me. She has always been a rational person, even in moments like the death of a child. It just felt like contrived, bad melodrama to have her going on about taking a child and then going "oops" a day later. Never mind that Anna knew Patrick was a bit of a question mark, enough that Robin doubted marrying him anyway, and she told Robin to marry him because he was hot and Robin might not be able to do any better.

If GH wants to honor history, then they could stop by rewriting the crap Guza foisted on viewers about the past, instead of perpetuating it (like the awful return of Robert). Luke making sure a restaurant doesn't have the name of a child he killed isn't much of a history present.

"The John and Sam scenes. Basically what I got from that is, it's a huge possibility that John does know Sam from the past but he's schooled his features and is pretending he doesn't because he's obviously done his research on all the people involved in Sonny's life before he returned back to Port Chuck because Sam just mentioned her husband's name was Jason and he confirmed he knew she was married to Jason Morgan which unlike Leopold, Jason is a fairly common name. I know I read from other boards, that people see chem between Sam and John, but I really don't see it, but hey, different strokes for different folks."

Take it with a grain of salt, but ME says that John definitely does not know Sam from the past. This was the first time he met her.

And John knowing Sam's husband's name-she knows Sonny Corinthos and her husband is Jason, the name of the man who works for Sonny Corinthos. Not a leap. And he said it in a questioning way: "Jason Morgan?"

@SallyS "Anyone seeing and hearing her for the first time would simply scratch their heads."

As someone who is really watching Starr for the first time outside of brief promos during GH commercials, this is how I feel. I can understand why they didn't want to bring Kristina back on because they want a love interest and not another sibling, but in that case, get rid of Michael and bring back (a recast if they want) Kristina and a love interest for her.

That's why I said Marz that he had already done his research about the people around Sonny and knew who she was when he approached her considering she just said her husband's name was Jason and he knew she was married to Jason Morgan.

Don't you know BarbWorld. Luke handing out nicknames to women he's attracted to is supposed to make him more endearing! Alexis = Natasha, Skye = Blaze, Tracy = SpankyBuns. Now, Anna has been renamed Slim by that old rascal, Lukas Lorenzo Spencer. That ole scamp. He's a modern day Flavor Flav!

I don't mean this to be unkind, but Starr looks awful on GH. I never realized how much better OLTL's lighting and makeup department were. (Except for Kassie DePalma. I never understood why she had clumpy mascara and bad eye makeup.)